When the British (and European) colonists began their conquering drive worldwide a century or two (or more) ago some among them had explained this as a mission. The mission was the ‘White Man’s Burden’ to civilize ‘the primitive and barbaric’ non-Christian world.
Now from the ‘White Man’s Burden’ let’s fast forward to ‘White Man’s Trash’. And here is the self-explanatory story from The Independent of London.
“Lianjiao, a remote Chinese village in the booming southern province of Guangdong, is a long way for a plastic bag to travel; but it is where almost all British supermarket carrier bags end up. And the foil-lined crisp packets. And the triangular hard plastic packaging for your bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches from a top high-street chain. Because China is rapidly becoming Britain’s biggest rubbish dump…
“According to figures from China’s environmental watchdog, the village handles more than 200,000 tonnes of plastic a year, a big chunk of it imported illegally. ‘China strictly bans any imports of waste that cannot be recycled as raw materials or be treated harmlessly in the country,’ according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa). ‘Driven by profits, some dealers collaborate with overseas law breakers and illegally smuggle or import rubbish into China, causing damage to people’s health and to the environment’.
“Sepa is negotiating with European Union agencies on finding ways to stop cross-border movements of waste and preventing illegal domestic-waste smuggling. The watchdog called on developed countries to respect the terms of the 1989 Basel Convention, which bans the export of toxic rubbish from developed countries to the Third World. The US has not signed up to the agreement, but the UK and other European countries have.
“According to Chinese figures, rubbish imports from abroad have grown steadily in the past decade and 70 per cent of toxic plastic produced around the world each year now finds its way illegally into China. Ninety per cent of this waste is broken down in small workshops like those in Lianjiao.”
In fact here is the example of an activist newspaper. The Independent concludes this story by saying: “Do you have an example of absurd packaging? Have you been infuriated by the waste with something you bought? If so, tell us and we will highlight it in The Independent and take it up with the companies concerned. Send your examples to waste@ independent.co.uk .”
All this reminds me of the story I did when I began blogging at TMV almost a year ago. This was about my two friends dreamer/visionary/voyager the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl and the legendary American journalist Norman Cousins.
Both were attending a three-day seminar at New Delhi in the early 1970s on the need for a federal world government. Now three decades later although the world is talking about “Global Village”, there do not seem to be visionaries to spell out how to go about it. Heyerdahl mentioned to me then that how the North Sea was getting polluted.
I wrote in TMV: “Thor Heyerdahl (born October 6, 1914 in Larvik, Norway – died April 18, 2002 in Colla Micheri, Italy) was a world-famous marine biologist with a great interest in anthropology, who became famous for his Kon-Tiki Expedition. He said the world’s oceans should be treated as one vast highway.
“That was how, he claimed, that ancient civilizations saw them. Modern people, he said, should be more ready to think in ancient terms. He warned that do not treat the seas/oceans as sewers.”
He told me that during his famous Kontiki expeditions he saw oil and rubber waste floating in the sea endangering marine life with long term effect. That was nearly three decades back.
Today the developing world is turning into a dumping yard for the western nations’ toxic waste. It is the same mentality of throwing rubbish in your backyard. When we talk of global village the consequences of this myopic vision would one day boomerang.
Visionaries like Heyerdahl and Cousins are long dead. And now who bothers.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.